Smart T-shirt is real, designed in India and selling for Rs 2,999 for now

Smart wearable devices have been around for several years now, just that they have mostly materialized as watches for our wrists. Or it’s the only place we like a fitness tracking device to be, maybe. But anyways how about a T-shirt?

A Hyderabad based startup has designed a T-shirt that can track your daily steps, calories burned, distance you have run or walked and even floors climbed, just like a fitness tracker. The company, Broadcast Wearables, calls it SYGNAL and claims it to be the first fitness tracking T-Shirt ever sold in the market.

The kickstarter is being crowdfunded on FuelADream online funding marketplace and is available on its website for purchase at a “discounted” price of Rs 2,999 or $59 for shipping outside of India, which otherwise would amount to Rs 4,999 or $99 respectively. It will start shipping when the company reaches its funding goal of Rs 5 lakh or by the end of March.

So how does the fitness tracking and dressing your torso go hand in hand?

SYGNAL has a bunch of sensors packed in a small chip and placed in the upper back portion, along with the battery and the Bluetooth module. The Bluetooth is to sync the tracked data with the app so you may view it. Broadcast Wearables says it has a backup of at least three days.

There is also a soft master switch on the sleeve (somewhat like a button) to turn off the device.Though the T-shirt doesn’t have its own GPS, it can connect with the MAPS app on your phone to help you navigate, using two built-in vibration sensors sewed on both the shoulders. When the app wants you to go right or left, the sensors will vibrate accordingly.

SYGNAL is a washable T-shirt, of course, and the electronics on-board are therefore made waterproof. But the company hasn’t mentioned anything about the warranty of the T-Shirt, funny we should ask?